MEMORANDUM
DATE: February 25, 2013
SUBJ: Student Workers at Optometry’s Meeting®
FROM: Jeffrey Ecker, Senior Accountant – Finance Department
TO: Stacy Harris
COPY: Lori Lee, Debby Bartsch, Ryan Hayes, Kathleen Hayes, Michael Stokes
Regarding your question of paying optometric students to be CE monitors at Optometry’s Meeting®; a person’s ability to work at OM® depends on whether or not they have the legal right to work in the United States.
A U.S. citizen should be eligible to work at OM® no matter where they attend optometric school since they should have a valid tax identification number (TIN).
The Immigration and Nationality Act requires a nonimmigrant visa for a person who wishes to work temporarily in the United States. Persons applying under this program are applying for a specific visa based on the purpose of their travel and the type of work they will be doing. Visas are granted for very specific work situations and there are numerical limits on some of the visa types. This website provides more information: http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1271.html.
A foreign student attending a foreign optometric school would probably need this type of visa in order to work at OM®.
A foreign student attending a U.S.-based optometric school is a different situation. This optometric student is probably attending optometric school under an F-1 Visa (Academic Student). F-1 students may not work off-campus during the first academic year. There are no exceptions to that rule.
After their first academic year an F-1 student becomes eligible for off-campus employment, but the student must first check for any on-campus employment availability. If on-campus employment doesn’t meet their financial needs, a student has to meet the guidelines for off-campus employment.
Two of the guidelines an F-1 student must meet before they may engage in off-campus employment are mentioned below.
An F-1 student’s potential off-campus employment must fall into one of three types of employment. The three types are shown below:
Curricular Practical Training (CPT)
Optional Practical Training (OPT) (pre-completion or post-completion)
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Optional Practical Training Extension (OPT)
Any off-campus employment must be related to the student’s area of study and must be authorized prior to starting any work by the Designated School Official (the person authorized to maintain the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will authorize off-campus employment only in cases of severe economic hardship occurring after a student's enrollment in an academic program and after the student has been in F-1 status for at least one full academic year, or in emergent circumstances (special student relief) as defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
It is doubtful being a CE monitor at OM® will fall into one of the three employment training categories. The economic test relates to the student’s ability to afford the cost of their schooling. Whether or not the F-1 student can afford to attend OM® is not a severe economic hardship or emergent circumstance.
An F-1 student will need the appropriate work visa before they can be hired to work at OM®. An F-1 student without an off-campus employment approval should not be hired to work at OM®. The student’s off-campus employment approval should specifically mention and detail the student’s work at OM®.
Everyone hired to work at OM® should have a valid U.S. taxpayer identification number (TIN) and/or work visa. There should be no exceptions to this policy.
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions regarding this analysis.
